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BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

Global car industry group agrees to set parts standards

The International Motor Manufacturers Organization (OICA) agreed Friday to establish global technical standards for auto parts as early as 2002, officials of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

Firms expected to raise capital spending 5.2%

Capital spending by major Japanese companies is expected to rise 5.2 percent in fiscal 2000 from a year earlier, the first increase in four years, a government advisory panel said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Vietnam ODA extended five years

Japan will continue to provide official development assistance to Vietnam in the next five years to support its efforts to achieve sustained economic development and combat poverty, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Domestic violence law sought

Japan needs to enact a law to recognize domestic violence as a crime and keep abusive husbands away from victimized women, according to the head of HELP Asian Women's Shelter, a private organization that provides emergency refuge for abused women.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Defector Hatoyama ready for fire

Liberal Democratic Party candidate Kunio Hatoyama, the younger brother of Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama, said Friday he is prepared for criticism over his decision to leave the DPJ.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

Softbank unit to open shop in Seoul

Softbank Finance Corp., a Softbank Corp. subsidiary, said Friday it has agreed with its business allies in the United States and South Korea to set up an investment consulting company, Morningstar Korea Ltd., in South Korea in July.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Hiding Heo won't lead to prison time

The Tokyo District Court handed a 39-year-old woman a suspended 18-month prison term Friday for harboring bail-jumper Heo Young Joong, a former real estate developer now on trial before the Osaka District Court for financially damaging the defunct trading firm Itoman Corp.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

Matsushita to sell wide LCD TV

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Friday it will introduce the industry's first 22-inch wide-screen liquid crystal display television set on the domestic market in July at a price of 480,000 yen.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

All regional telecoms plan to invest in PNJ

Seven regional telecommunications carriers plan to invest in PNJ Communications, a Tokyo-based data communications services firm, bringing all 10 of the nation's regional carriers on board, industry sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

Second-tier banks regained profits in '99

Second-tier regional banks returned to profitability in fiscal 1999 for the first time in four years due largely to a substantial drop in bad-loan writeoffs and profits from share sales, an industry association said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Medics on call for prime minister

Doctors from a Self-Defense Forces hospital are likely to staff the Prime Minister's Official Residence round the clock in case the nation's leader suddenly falls ill, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Plan gives cash to local governments

OSAKA — A mediation plan unveiled Friday aimed at settling a dioxin contamination problem that occurred near an incinerator in Nose, Osaka Prefecture, would have the incinerator's maker and the plant operator pay a total of 750 million yen to local governments.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

30 million yen extortion forces drug recall

OSAKA — Santen Pharmaceutical Co., the nation's leading maker of eyedrops, has begun recalling its products after an extortionist threatened to contaminate its eyedrops with an undisclosed substance unless it pays some 30 million yen in cash.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Nuclear accident law takes effect

A law aimed at prevention and better handling of accidents at nuclear power facilities went into force Friday.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Putting things into perspective

Imagine a social mixer for celestial beings. A casual affair, a brunch maybe, with olives and wine and the tones of a harp wafting through the ether. Our God is there, looking good, and by way of introduction he reaches into his wallet and takes out some photographs to pass around for the other cosmic...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2000

The case for more world trade

The entry of China into the World Trade Organization is of major significance for both the WTO and China.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2000

Reconciliation on the horizon

The joint declaration signed between North Korea leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung during the latter's just-concluded visit to Pyongyang is a truly historic document. It will, and should, require a complete reassessment of what is and is not possible regarding North-South reconciliation...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2000

A clash of perceptions in the Philippines

MANILA -- It so happened that I arrived at Manila airport just one day after a bomb explosion there that, fortunately, created more worries than victims and was quickly characterized as "an oversize pyrotechnic." Still, it doesn't take long for a visitor to the Philippines to realize that this "pearl...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2000

India needs a two-track approach to China

NEW DELHI -- Behind the pomp and ceremony that greeted Indian President K.R. Narayanan during his state visit to China earlier this month was an important message: Beijing wants to strengthen its engagement with India, but not at the cost of its containment strategy. Despite hailing Narayanan as an "old...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Sculptures that capture the mysterious rhythms of nature

The press release for the sculptor Susumu Shingu's "Wind Caravan" project opens charmingly with a quote from Christina Rossetti: "Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I, but when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is blowing by."
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 17, 2000

A tribute to Japanese world music

In two previous columns (Feb. 5 and May 20) I wrote about recently established live-music houses, WAON in Nippori and Manabiya in Yokohama, where one can hear hogaku. The familiar settings of these spaces allow for an intimate connection with the music, which ranges from relatively unknown young musicians...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

OECD to tell Japan to keep easy-money policy

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will recommend that Japan maintain its easy-credit policy and avoid fiscal tightening to strengthen its fragile economic recovery.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Students schooled in politics, not apathy

Hiroshi Harada, a 23-year-old associate of the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, better known as Matsushita Seikei Juku, gets up before 6 a.m. every day, does exercises to an NHK radio program and cleans up around the institute's main gate with other associates.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

MITI stands by nuclear power policy

Nuclear power remains important to Japan despite Germany's decision to shut all its power reactors by the early 2030s, Ministry of International Trade and Industry officials claimed Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Empress Dowager is on respirator

The Empress Dowager, widow of the Emperor Showa, has had difficulty breathing since Wednesday evening and is on a respirator, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

HIV-positive man sues police for not hiring him

A man in his 20s filed a suit Thursday with the Tokyo District Court against the metropolitan government, claiming the Metropolitan Police Department refused to hire him after finding out he is HIV-positive.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 16, 2000

Yagi, Martinez go double deep

Veteran slugger Hiroshi Yagi and Takashi Yoshida both hit two-run homers off Chunichi lefty Hideo Koike in the second inning Thursday night as the Hanshin Tigers triumphed 12-6 over the Dragons at Koshien Stadium.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Microsoft, Hitachi tie on systems solutions

Major Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. and U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. said Thursday they have agreed to cooperate in the systems solutions business.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Surveillance is unnecessary as cult poses no danger, Aum leader claims

Aum Shinrikyo chief Tatsuko Muraoka testified during the first hearing of a lawsuit filed against the Public Security Examination Commission that ongoing surveillance of the cult under the anti-Aum law is unnecessary as it no longer poses a threat to society.

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports